Goodnight Moon, Goodnight Scully
by ATX
Summary: Warning: Character Death Every night Scully and Mulder put William to bed with a story... can't say much else without giving it away. R&R!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own 'em. I also don't own "Goodnight Moon". Wonderful book. (One of my favorites!)  
  
AN: I was only able to put this together from what I remember from when I was younger, so if I got the words wrong, I am incredibly sorry! Somebody correct me if I'm wrong! (And I'm pretty sure I am)  
  
Goodnight Moon, Goodnight Scully  
  
"Goodnight mush."  
  
"Goodnight spoon."  
  
"Goodnight moon."  
  
"Goodnight Daddy."  
  
"Goodnight Mommy."  
  
"Goodnight Baby William."  
  
Together Dana Scully and Fox Mulder finished up their 10 month old son's bedtime routine. They kissed his forehead, cuddled and cooed at him for a bit, and then laid him down in his crib. The lights were turned off and the UFO nightlight was emitting a faint glow in the corner of the room. As William eyes slowly drifted shut, Mulder and Scully smiled at each other. Quietly, they closed the door and headed out to the living room. There, Mulder plopped down on the couch and pulled Scully into his lap.  
  
"Hey Scully, how many times have we performed that bedtime ritual? I mean, we have it memorized now and it's been ten months. If there are an average of 30 days in each month, and ten months, that's 30 times 10 and."  
  
"Mulder, nobody likes a math geek." She shifted so that she was sitting between his legs, leaning back against his chest. She closed her eyes and pulled his arms around her. Content, she sighed. "Mulder, lets just stay like this for tonight."  
  
Mulder shifted slightly and said, "Sounds good to me. You do realize that he'll be up in an hour because he didn't eat much." Scully was almost asleep and chose to ignore that last comment. A few minutes later she remembered that she had asked Mulder to pick up some things from the grocery store on his way home. When she asked him about it, he groaned. "I'm sorry Scully. I forgot."  
  
"It's ok Mulder. I'll go run out to the store and get it right now." She moved to get up, but Mulder pulled her back.  
  
"The store will be there tomorrow morning."  
  
"I know, but if I don't get this stuff now, I'll forget. I'll only be gone for ten minutes tops," she said as she kissed him on the cheek before getting up. This time he didn't grab her back, but instead pouted. "Oh Mulder, don't pull that face on me now. I'll be back." She bent down and kissed him soundly on the lips. "Promise." 


	2. Chapter 2

"Come on Scully, pick up the phone." Frustrated, he threw his phone into the corner of the room. Scully had been gone an hour and hadn't called. "Where are you?" In the other room, William began crying. Mulder went in and brought him out to the kitchen where he warmed up his bottle. The microwave beeped and Mulder pulled out the bottle and, after testing it, gave it to the crying William. He rocked and soothed him as he walked back into the nursery and sat in the old rocking chair Scully's mom had given them last Christmas. The phone chose to ring just as William was drifting back to sleep. Mulder grabbed the cordless phone in the hallway and said, "Hello?"  
  
"Are you Fox Mulder?"  
  
"Yes, who is this?"  
  
"You are listed as next of kin to call on Dana Scully's medical records."  
  
"Oh God no. What happened to her? What's wrong?"  
  
"She was in a car accident. She's at St. George's Hospital."  
  
"I'm on my way." There wasn't any time to call for a babysitter. The hospital was just ten minutes away. He dressed William for cold weather and retrieved his cell phone from the floor. As he pulled out of the parking space, he dialed Scully's mother's number.  
  
"Maggie, Dana was in an accident. I don't know how bad she's hurt. I'm bringing William with me. I'm on my way right now. Ok. See you there." He clicked the disconnect button and looked to the backseat and found William looking back at his with teary blue eyes, sucking madly on his pacifier. "Hang on there buddy." 


	3. Chapter 3

"Excuse me, I'm looking for a Dana Scully. She was in a car crash. Do you know where she is?"  
  
"They said you'd be coming. She's in ICU, room 302."  
  
"Thanks." Mulder jumped on an elevator and willed it to go faster, even though hospital elevators were already faster than normal. It seemed as though they had to stop on every floor before they got to the right one. William was sleeping once more, his head resting on Mulder's shoulder. Moving quickly, but not so quickly that William woke up, he came to room 302. He was almost afraid to look inside.  
  
When he finally did look he didn't double over in shock like he had done when she was in the hospital for her cancer, but the emotion was the same. Slowly he walked into the room and pulled a chair near the bed. He took one of Scully's battered and bruised hands, once so delicate and yet so strong, in his free hand and prayed that she would be ok. It didn't look good. He didn't need some doctor to tell him that. She had a large bandage winding around her head with a little red showing through on the forehead and it looked like her nose was broken. She had a long strip of gauze on the inside of her right forearm and she had little cuts and scrapes everywhere. Why couldn't he have just remembered a simple thing like milk? he moaned angrily in his head. He heard someone clearing their throat behind him and he turned around to see a man with graying hair and a solemn expression on his face. Silently he beckoned him to step into the hall.  
  
"I'm Dr. Werner. Are you Fox Mulder?"  
  
"Yes, I am. How is she?" asked Mulder, hoping his fears were all for nothing.  
  
"It's pretty bad. She was hit head on by a drunk driver. It took them some time to actually get her out of the car it was so mangled from what I heard. She had multiple internal injuries, most of which were taken care of, and several external injuries. She has a severe concussion; I'm afraid that with the number and type of injuries she has, we don't expect her to last through the night." He sounded genuinely sorry and when Mulder said nothing, he put a comforting hand on the shoulder William wasn't occupying and left.  
  
Mulder simply stood there, staring at the floor. It felt like all the air had been sucked out of him, he couldn't breathe. He turned back to the room and went back in, dropping into the chair. William chose that moment to wake up. He started crying and nothing, not even his beloved pacifier would calm him down.  
  
Scully stirred in the bed and opened her eyes slowly, like the dim light in the room hurt her eyes. "Mulder?" she whispered groggily.  
  
"Scully." He took her hand in his again and pressed it softly to his lips as he got out of the chair and sat down on the side of her bed.  
  
"Mulder I - I feel like crap."  
  
Mulder smiled and said, "No offense, but you look like crap."  
  
She pulled her hand out of his and slapped him lightly on the arm. "No offense taken." She tried to shift her body so she could face him better, but hissed in pain when her body didn't want to be moved.  
  
"No, lie still Scully." He reached out a hand and gently pushed her back down. William let out a louder scream and Scully reached up to tickle him. He forgot about being angry and started hiccupping. Carefully he reached out and grabbed onto one of Scully's finger and held on tightly.  
  
"It um, your prognosis, it doesn't look good. The uh, the doctor said, um, that they didn't expect you to make it through the night."  
  
Slowly Scully nodded her head and stopped when it started pounding. She opened her crystalline, tear-filled blue eyes and said, "Mulder, I know you feel guilty, but don't. Promise me that you won't agonize over me like Samantha."  
  
"I won't. And you won't have to worry about that because you're going to get better," he said with conviction.  
  
As if to prove him wrong, her heart monitor slowed, the rhythmic pulses coming slower and slower. "Mulder, will you help me say goodnight to William one more time, please?"  
  
"Sure Scully."  
  
With trembling voices, they ran through the whole book, never pausing, never daring to let an unshed tear fall for fear they wouldn't be able to continue.  
  
"Goodnight mush..."  
  
Scully's eyes were drooping.  
  
"Goodnight spoon..."  
  
'Don't give up yet Scully. Hold on.'  
  
"Goodnight moon."  
  
She forced her eyes open.  
  
"Goodnight Daddy."  
  
"Goodnight Mommy."  
  
"And goodnight Baby William."  
  
They finished together and Scully looked once more at her beautiful baby boy and his father. She gazed into Mulder's eyes and said, "I love you two so much," before closing her eyes for the last time.  
  
Mulder hung his head and whispered, "Goodnight Scully," as he bent down to kiss her forehead tenderly. "Goodnight... Mommy."  
  
*********So... what did ya think? I kinda found this buried inside my school things and decided to give it a little air. Love Once Given probably won't be updated again until Saturday, but maybe this can get you in the angsty mood for it. Read and Review it people! ~ATX~ 


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